The Hegang tragedy has intensified some sharp debate about how to prevent mining accidents, and has highlighted some of the common practices used by officialdom to suppress worker participation in the name of “stability”.

Around one hundred Chinese construction workers staged a roadside protest on the Caribbean island of Trinidad last week demanding they be allowed to return to China after being forced to live and work in appalling conditions, with no pay for the last two months.

A labour activist seeking to the defend the rights of laid-off workers at the Tonghua steelworks in northeast China has reportedly been sentenced to 18 months reeducation through labour for “assembling a crowd to create a disturbance” (聚众闹事).
Retired workers’ representative Ren Fengyu was sentenced on 9 September after putting up a poster calling for the legalization of a Tonghua workers’ rights organization and the formal election of its representatives, China Workers Research (中国工人研究) reported on 18 October.

A middle-aged pharmacist at a hospital in central China has been awarded 118,000 yuan in compensation after being savagely beaten by the hospital’s director.
Chen Yanqun suffered severe physical and psychological injuries when she was beaten around the head and body by Zheng Weibin, the director of Longtou Hospital in Chenggu county, Shaanxi, on 24 October 2008.

Grieving relatives scuffled with police today as the death toll from China's worst mining disaster for almost two years rose to 104.
Authorities said they feared another four workers who were trapped underground after a huge gas explosion at the mine on Saturday were already dead.

New labour contract regulations promulgated by the provincial government of China’s coal heartland, Shanxi, contain specific provisions designed to enhance job security and workplace safety for coal miners. But while these provisions might look good on paper, they will in reality do little to protect those working in the world’s most dangerous coal mines.

BEIJING - CHINA will stop mandatory hepatitis B tests for employees joining new companies and students enrolling in schools, state media said on Sunday, after a court ruled the tests were illegal discrimination. Deng Haihua, deputy director of the health ministry's general office, said the government would soon issue instructions to stop the practice, which is currently a requirement, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Story Highlight

It is the duty of the union to represent workers in negotiations with employers, it should not just sit on its hands. Neither should the Trade Union Law just exist on paper. The union should shoulder its legal responsibilities towards workers by defending their rights.

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